Anthony Tommasini on Meyerbeer

"Leon Botstein, a champion of neglected works, has leapt into the breach, presenting a production of 'Les Huguenots,' which opened on Friday night. … 'Les Huguenots' places a fictionalized love triangle against the backdrop of the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre of French Calvinist Protestants by the Roman Catholic forces of Charles IX and his indomitable mother, Catherine de’ Medici, in 1572 (an event depicted in the opera’s brutal final scene, staged here with gore and nudity). Of the seven major roles, the tenor lead, Raoul de Nangis, a young Protestant noble, drives the story. … The love triangle does become convoluted. But you can enjoy 'Les Huguenots' without following the network of romantic intrigue too closely. There are stunning episodes, as in the concluding ensemble of Act II, when choruses of Catholics and Huguenots voice their hatreds in vehement music. … Yet this grand opera also has passages of subtle intimacy: a forlorn aria for Valentine, for example. … Queen Marguerite — a role sung by Joan Sutherland on a landmark 1969 recording, conducted by Richard Bonynge — was sung here by Erin Morley" ("Music Review," New York Times, 8/3/09).